Hidden Pasts and Untold Futures
by TheAmazingAshleyAnn
Summary: Lillian, a young girl from the city, has always sought out for one thing- to find out who her birthparents are, and why they gave her up. When she leves her city of birth on her eighteenth birthday, it seems like she will never find out. But she soon finds herself living in Konaha by complete accident, and finds a single lead to the thing she has always wanted. How far will she go?
1. Chapter 1

"_Mommy?"_

"_Yes, dear?"_

"_Can we play hide and seek again, one more time?"_

"_Okay, dear, one last time."_

Lillian looked around in wonder at the green scenery surrounding her, still trying to decipher the map she held without dropping it thanks to the jerky movements her new pony was making. Lillian bounced atop the small, white, horse's back, groaning in frustration. The map was upside-down. Again. Lillian ran a hand through her hair, trying to jerk the small pony to a stop, and failing miserably. Again.

"Stop it!" Lillian said through clenched teeth, tugging on the reins with all her might- something the five foot girl didn't have much of.

So far, her whole trip had been a disaster, or not trip, considering the fact that the girl did not plan on journeying back to what had been her home for thirteen years exactly. The day she had turned eighteen, she had taken all of her possessions and her limited funds on the road with her- purchasing a pony along with a shabby cart on her way out of town and never looking back. Well, metaphorically speaking, of course, Lillian had been looking at the map and trying to retrace her steps for what seemed like forever, the constantly green scenery surrounding her never changing. The girl had no idea just where she was; she was completely and utterly lost, with no hope of finding her way through the terrain alone. And seeing as she was currently in the middle of nowhere, she was completely screwed.

"It's hopeless!" She moaned, throwing her head back and closing her eyes, stuffing the useless map into her pocket.

Lillian sighed, clenching the reins with white knuckles, but no longer trying to get the stubborn horse to stop, finally giving up after seeing the result of her last attempt. When she turned her gaze from her pony's white mane, she was surprised to see a little red fox sitting directly in her path about twenty feet ahead of her.

"NO!" Lillian shouted, pulling back hard on the reins and squeezing the pony's mid-section with her legs, but the pony continued on at the fast pace, ignoring Lillian's mixed commands. Time seemingly slowed down as Lillian tugged on the reins, the smooth leather burning her skin as it slipped through her fingers. Within seconds, the fox was almost right in front of the two- finally taking notice of their presence. The pony tried at the last second to put on the brakes, stopping dead in its track right in front of the fox, which had promptly ran off into the bush without a second thought.

Unfortunately, for Lillian, physics was not on her side and the small brunette kept flying forward even after the pony had stopped, flying over the pony's head and neck. She was suspended in mid-air for not even half a second, finally realizing what was happening just as she plummeted straight to the ground, landing hard on her right arm.

The girl groaned, lying on the grass covered ground and her whole body beginning to ache. Without thinking, the girl tried to push herself off the ground to get up, a searing pain running through her right arm and causing her to flop back on the ground with a shrill scream, her world exploding in pain. For hours it seemed, Lillian suffered, but really was only seconds, the searing pain dulled away to an ache in her arm as she lay on the ground, panting and trying not to cry, and failing miserably.

Carefully, she tested her left arm, and hand, reaching for her head where the pain was only increasing. Her fingers made contact with a sticky substance, the girl pulling them away from her head to see them coated in crimson. Her vision blurred as she realized what it was- blood. Her blood. She was bleeding, in some distant corner of her mind, Lillian thought she should yell for help, but she was more concerned with the fact that she was bleeding. Why was she bleeding? She dug under her head for a moment; knotting her fingers in her unruly brown hair, and discovered a small, sharp rock; she pulled it out, glaring at it for a second before throwing it away as far as she could, tears falling from her eyes as the pain in her head intensified, the rock thudding to the ground a few feet away. Why did that rock hurt her?

She started to sob, staring in shock at her blood coated fingers before her hand suddenly dropped to the ground, the girl having lost the energy to hold it up anymore. She lowered her head back to the ground, staring blankly at the grass in front of her, her eyelids drifting closed- maybe if she just took a short nap, she would have enough energy to get up later. Lillian smiled, the corners of her lips barely lifting- yes, she would take just a short nap, it would help dull the pain for a short while.

As white and red paws came within her blurred line of vision, a small body blocking the sunlight from reaching her, the brunette finally lost consciousness.

* * *

"I think she's coming to!" A voice called out excitedly, followed by frantic steps coming towards her.

Lillian wanted to yell at the person to be quiet, to let her sleep just a little bit longer. She was so tired. But, seeing as the girl could barely find the energy to open her eyelids, she stayed silent, turning her face so that her head was turned away from the person who couldn't seem to let her sleep. She wanted the darkness back; she missed the nothingness surrounding her as she slept.

"Lillian? Dear, I need you to open your eyes," a gentle voice cooed, a cool hand pressing against her throbbing forehead. Lillian sighed; her head felt like it was going to explode. Yet it was weird- she felt fine, who were these people, anyway? "Hiro, I need another cool cloth- she's heating up again."

Lillian listened as footsteps hurried away, moments later returning to her bedside as a cool cloth was place on her forehead, Lillian felt the darkness coming towards her once more- falling into its grasps easily once again.

* * *

A searing pain brought her back this time, coming solely from her right arm. She awoke, screaming and thrashing in pain.

"Hiro," A woman grunted, trying to hold Lillian down- her eyes open, but the girl not seeing anything other than the ever present blackness. "Get over here with the pain medication, she's waking up and I can't work on her arm like this."

Hurried steps made their way to Lillian's bedside, a small gasp coming from their direction.

Lillian kept screaming as wave after wave of agonizing pain racked her body, the girl thrashing every limb to make it stop- save for her right arm. Why were these people hurting her?

"Hiro!" The woman said sternly, increasing the pressure on Lillian, trying to keep the girl on the bed.

"Right!" The boy said, his voice wavering slightly, strong arms holding Lillian's left arm in place- a small prick in her skin followed by the unwanted feeling of something other than blood coursing through her veins.

The effect was almost instantaneous, the substance immediately making the pain begin to fade away- Lillian immediately calming down now that it didn't feel as though she was being skinned alive.

"Ayame, what are we going to do when she's up?" The male voice asked as Lillian began to drift away, her fingers still twitching slightly as the girl fought off the medication.

"Hiro," The woman said sadly, her voice sounding like it was miles away from Lillian, "I really don't know."

* * *

This time, everything was silent and all was well in the world as Lillian began to drift away from the darkness and into the real world- feeling stronger than she had in a long time. Which was saying a lot.

She awoke to darkness once more as her eyes opened for the first time in ages, tucked carefully into a bed with starch white sheets, the sickening aroma of the hospital surrounding her, yet with the gentle presence of cooking spices still wafting in the air from a long ago meal. Lillian wrinkled her nose, trying to get used to the odd combination of smells, curry spices and disinfectants, wondering just why she was there. She couldn't remember anything.

Lillian looked down- surprised to see her hair lying to either side of her neck, much longer than she'd remembered it being. She shrugged it off and her gaze continued downward- her head skipping a beat when she saw the large cast her whole right arm was encased in, her eyes wide. Hesitantly, she tried moving her fingers- a sigh of relief escaping her lips when they moved accordingly. Lillian tried to recall how that had happened- only remembering brief flashes of pain and voices. Where was she? She was chilled to the bone when she realized she didn't know.

Closing her eyes, she tried to recall what she remembered doing last, her mind drifting back to her old home in the city, with her foster parents when it dawned on her- the accident with that stupid horse that had refused to listen to her. And then she'd been thrown off, landing on a rock and apparently her right arm. Content with her remembering's, she let her gaze drift around the room- stopping when she saw a boy with floppy brown hair, not looking a day over eighteen, sleeping on a chair adjacent to her bed. He was wearing a white shirt, and crisp white pants- his head hanging down, his chin resting on his collarbone. Lillian shrieked a little, the sound escaping her lips as she saw him before she could even think about what was happening.

He jerked awake- his brown eyes snapping open, his gaze meeting Lillian's within less than a second, he stared at her for a short while, dumbfounded as he saw her eyes for the first time. In a second, as he finally gained consciousness, he grinned widely at her.

"Hello Lillian, nice to see you awake for once," He said excitedly, sitting up straight, a touch of a foreign accent on his words. "I'm Chihiro, but you can call me Hiro."

Lillian made a small noise, out of fear, although she felt like she should trust him. He looked so young and innocent. "Sorry," She whispered hoarsely. She glanced at him curiously, trying to ignore how her cheeks were burning before deciding he was obviously a doctor of some kind, and replied in a scratchy voice, her good hand immediately going to her throat after she spoke. "I'm Lillian."

Hiro smiled. "I know, we've been taking care of you for an awful long time, honestly? It was touch and go for a while there, but you're a fighter! Ayame was doubtful when Reina brought you in, but I knew from the start you'd make it!"

Lillian's head spun. Touch and go? Reina?

Hiro's eyes widened when he realized he'd confused her. "Oops! Sorry, you're probably wondering where you are."

Lillian nodded, not trusting her voice- still coming to grips with the fact that she'd been touch and go for a while. She could've died. There was suddenly something in her throat, that resisted all of her attempts to get rid of it- she could've died, and no one would have known. No one would have cared.

"Well," Hiro began, "You're in Konaha right now, which is one of the 'Twin Villages' referred to by people in the larger cities." He paused, watching as she gave him a blank look. "Well, no matter, one of our villagers, Reina, discovered you on the mountain when she was out for a walk, and you were almost immediately brought here. You were in really bad shape…" Hiro confessed with a dark look on his face, "You were dehydrated, and you were really beaten up- you had quite a number done on you. Ayame thinks you were out there for at least two days."

Lillian nodded once more, wondering just who this Ayame is.

Suddenly Hiro jumped up, remembering his manners. "Hey, do you want a drink or something before I go on? You've been out for a while."

Lillian watched silently as Hiro disappeared through a door at the end of Lillian's bed, returning a moment later with a clear glass in his hand.

Lillian pushed herself into a sitting position- or tried her best, Hiro helping her up by grabbing her elbow and adjusting the pillows accordingly before handing her the glass. Lillian tried not to blush, but Hiro seemed unfazed by his actions. Lillian downed the whole glass, handing it to Hiro and clearing her throat before speaking, her voice still sounding a bit raw. "How… How long have I been… here?"

"Well," Hiro said hesitantly, worry prominent on his face. "It's been, roughly, a season since Reina brought you back from the mountain.

Lillian's mind spun, a_ season_, Lillian though with disbelief- she couldn't believe it, it barely felt like a day since she went riding out of the city, vowing to never return. A season lost.

Hiro noted her disbelief, "I know it's hard to believe, but we had to keep you sedated for a lot of the time, the pain from your arm was just too intense, and we don't have medication that can keep you conscious and comfortable yet." Hiro paused, looking like he was going to add something else, an annoyed look on his face. but the boy shrugged it off and sat in the chair beside Lillian's bed once more- slumping in it, Lillian finally taking notice of the large bags under the boy's eyes.

Lillian stared, Hiro going oblivious to her looks- his mind in a far off place, and wondered how she hadn't noticed the bags before- they were huge and dark in colour. It occurred to her that they were her fault, and as soon as it occurred to her, she couldn't get rid of the thought, that she was hurting this person, who cared for her, even though they didn't even know each other. He, and probably others, had given up so much…

Lillian tried to push the thoughts away, blurting out the first thing that came to her mind. "What happened to my arm?"

Hiro jumped, not expecting her to speak so suddenly- so used to the room being completely silent, save for steady breathing. This would take some getting used to, Hiro decided; he hadn't ever been in the room when she was fully conscious in the whole season he had 'known' her, something Hiro was realizing he didn't know at all. "Well, you weren't awake to tell us what happened, but we assumed you fell or were thrown, which was confirmed when Kana found your horse wandering the mountainside a couple days later. And you didn't have enough time to react, so most of your weight landed on your arm and shoulder; which, when accompanied by the speed you were going, effectively snapped some of the bones and dislocated your shoulder."

Lillian nodded, trying to connect the information with what she remembered, and finding it all worked out confirmed what Hiro was saying. It was all that stupid horse's fault. "What… what happened to the horse?"

"Oh, Kana's watching over her, she's a really nice horse- although it isn't trained very well, but Kana's been hard at work fixing that." Hiro said.

Lillian scoffed, only believing the part where Hiro said the horse was untrained. Throwing her off wasn't a really nice thing to do. "How long until my arm is better?"

Hiro frowned, deep in thought before responding. "Well… the breaks are beginning to heal and the pain is subsiding, your shoulder should be almost fine, although you have to be more careful with it, or you may dislocate it, but your arm will need some intensive therapy before it gets back to normal, although if you don't do the therapy properly, or consistently, then your arm may never have full usage again."

Lillian nodded again, not looking forward to the therapy she'd now have to take, knowing from her 'brother' in her foster home that after an injury, it took a long time to rebuild the muscle and tissue and get back to normal. It had taken months of hard work, and even then his knee hadn't been able to work the same way it used to.

Lillian yawned unexpectedly, looking at Hiro through lidded eyes as exhaustion caught up with her.

Hiro smiled kindly, "Get to sleep Lillian, you have a hard couple of seasons ahead of you."

Lillian, worries of where she would be going when she woke up surfacing in her mind, could do nothing more than comply with Hiro's words.

* * *

"Alrighty, break it to me hard A-dog, what'd the tests say?" Lillian chirped, swinging her feet back and forth, clutching the cool steel table on the edge with both of her hands- her right hand mostly there for show, having not done too much to rebuild the muscles there for a little more than a season.

Ayame glared at the girl for the use of a nickname, although it was half hearted because over the past two weeks, Ayame had grown used to the verbal abuse Lillian enjoyed so much. "Shush now, or I won't tell you."

Lillian made a gesture of zipping her mouth shut, and throwing away the key, earning a laugh from Ayame before the doctor continued on.

"Well you seem fine mentally, if that's what you're asking." Ayame said with a sly grin on her face as Lillian glared at her. "Okay, okay. Well, your arm seems to be coming along fine, and your shoulder should be fine within a couple of weeks, now that the bruising's almost faded. The breaks are healing at the correct rate, and they are forming correctly- so you won't need to reset them at all, unless you injure the arm again…"

Ayame lead off, giving Lillian a stern look to be sure the brunette got the message.

Lillian held up her hands. "Woah, cool the third degree, I don't want to break it any more than _you_ want me to."

Ayame raised an eyebrow and frowned contemplatively. "Well, this _is_ the most business we've had in seasons…"

The two shared a laugh, before Ayame continued on. "As I was saying, we'll continue on with the physiotherapy, three times a week for a season, and then less and less as the time goes back, and your arm should be back to normal within the year, or as close as it gets. Now, it's imperative that you give it your all these next few seasons…"

Ayame continued on, but Lillian began ignoring the doctor, the wheels in her head turning a different direction now that she had all the information she needed, but one thing Ayame said stuck in the girl's mind, and she found herself interrupting Ayame to get answers. "Wait, so I'm staying here for the next year?"

Not that Lillian minded, the small town of Konaha she had found herself in was actually quite nice, and she already had budding friendships with all of the villagers that cared to visit her, and those of which she met when she began to go walking with Hiro a few days after she first woke up. After she had found herself going crazy in the sterile clinic and driving Ayame insane too, even after she decorated it with some of her possessions, Ayame had reached her limit after about ten minutes of Lillian's 'decorating.' Then she had sent her away, which may or may not have been Lillian's secret goal from the beginning, she had been testing Ayame's limits almost every day since the day she woke up.

Ayame not so subtly glared at the girl after being interrupted in her lecture, but decided to address the issue- knowing Lillian wouldn't hear a word she said until she got answers to her question. "That's what I wanted to ask you about, if you choose to move away, or return to the city…" Ayame trailed off, seeing the grossed out look on Lillian's face. "Then you will have to still complete exercises, but with a different doctor, and I will have to do a lot of paperwork. There's another option though," Ayame paused, deciding whether or not to address the issue, but deciding to because Ina had told her to, and Lillian's interest was thoroughly piqued. "There is another town, located on the other side of the mountain by the name of Bluebell; but I would still be the doctor, and you would have to travel over the mountain every couple days."

Lillian bit her lip, considering the information for a total of half a second. "Can I just stay here and mooch off of you for another couple seasons?" She asked with hopefulness in her voice.

Ayame laughed, figures Lillian would try to do something like that. "Yes, you could stay in Konaha," Lillian grinned, she had been worried about being told to get lost, "but not here." Lillian's face fell, her hopes of staying in her little paradise dashed. She had nowhere else to go.

"Where you could stay, though- I'm sure Hiro's showed it on your walks, is the abandoned farm up the road. Another benefit of living there would be that _light_ farm work would be beneficial to your health, and you could make a small profit."

Lillian grinned, it sounded perfect- a little piece of her own paradise, a place to finally call her own- exactly what she had planned to find when she left the city, and although she hadn't been planning on acquiring it that way, or even farming for that matter, it all sounded all too perfect for her. She could even get her own pets, something the girl had always wanted but had never been able to actually do. "That honestly sounds amazing right about now. Not that your clinic is boring or anything… I just have my own way of decorating things."

"Great," Ayame said, hanging her clipboard back onto the wall and turning to leave, "I'll go talk to Ina for a second, and if all goes well, you'll have your house key by five tonight- so you better start packing. And remember, light farm work only."

Lillian hopped off the table, quickly sprinting passed Ayame- using her small stature to squeeze between Ayame and the wall and heading right for what was her 'room,' which was really just a small hospital room with all of Lillian's retrieved things in it. She had some packing to do.

* * *

**A/N: And so, I tenatively upload chapter one of one of my newer works, self edited and everything. I've got a couple more chapters written at this moment, its just a matter of keeping ahead and editing what I already have :) I've had this in the works for a long, long time and I'm really happy to finally have it out there, even if it still does have mistakes and I'm not completly sure how everything's going to go down, but I have a fairly good idea, and it's gonna be good, so you should stick around and maybe drop a review or two (hint, hint). But if you just want to be a silent lurker, thats fine too.**

**And, since I'm still kind of developing things, titles/small details are subject to change as I see fit. Don't be surprised if I suddenly re-upload chapter one for some small, miniscule detail. **


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Lillian shifted nervously in front of the door, the key clutched in her left hand, and her bags from her horse cart sitting on the ground next to her. Her nerves were finally catching up with her after the busy day she'd had.

"Go on, Lil, open it." Hiro encouraged from behind her, more bags in his hands, he had been inconspicuously sent with her by Ayame to be sure she didn't overexert herself. Ayame had gotten to know Lillian a little too well. Lillian was certain that somebody would be keeping a close watch on her crop growing for the next couple months. Nosy townspeople…

Lillian stared down the normal looking wooden door in front of her, the key shaking slightly in her grip, Lillian wasn't sure if it was how nervous she was, or another effect of her accident. Whatever, the girl thought, it didn't matter, what mattered was opening the door.

Something Lillian couldn't find the courage to do. Lillian sighed, twisting the key with her fingers- what if it wasn't everything she was hoping it was? What if it wasn't as great as she thought it'd be, she voiced these thoughts to Hiro.

"Well," Hiro started, the words easily slipping out of his mouth, "You'll never find out if you don't take that risk."

Lillian nodded at the surprisingly encouraging words, and stuck the key in the lock, jiggling it like Ina had told her to do, hearing a click before stuffing the key in her pocket. She picked up her bags, and opened the creaky door.

Lillian gasped as she stepped in- it was small, but the space was used well- the placing of things in the room making it seem like it was bigger than it actually was.

Lillian dropped her bags behind her, ignoring it when Hiro grunted after tripping on them, and looked around in amazement that the whole place was hers and hers alone, well, with time- after she paid off the deed to Ina, who had been more than understanding when Ayame had talked to her about it. Actually, she seemed kind of smug that Lillian had chose to live in Konaha ,and had quickly shuffled Lillian and Ayame out with the key, saying giddily that she had an 'old geezer' to gloat to. Whatever that meant. Ayame had laughed, but Lillian had been confused and just ignored the experience, too excited over the prospect of her new place.

Lillian continued her examination, twirling around the room while Hiro collapsed onto the couch that was stuffed in the small space between an arm of the kitchen cupboards, and the wall to the right of the door, a pale red in colour. Like a lot of things in Konaha, red seemed to be their colour.

The kitchen took up more than a quarter of the main room, with an extension of the cupboards extending from the wall to the middle of the room, on the other side of the kitchen was a closet, presumably for cooking ingredients, Lillian had noted that they seemed pretty serious about their cooking. This setup was nothing compared to the one Ayame had at the clinic, and that even paled to the one in the Town Hall. It was a shame Lillian couldn't cook to save her life.

In front of the storage closet was a smaller closet, with a rung running across it horizontally at about eye level, and a small matt beneath it, probably for shoes and coats Lillian concluded. There was a welcome matt in front of the door. Directly ahead of her was a white door, which Lillian immediately headed into, the door swinging shut behind her. It was a bedroom, obviously, Lillian figured as soon as she entered the room and spotted the bed, this room almost as big as the other room in the house.

In the upper left-hand corner was a small, wood framed, bed with red sheets tucked under the mattress and two white pillows sitting at the head. Beside it, was a small wooden nightstand with a little cloth sitting on the surface, an empty vase resting on top of that. Lillian frowned; she would have to do some remodeling, all that brown was going to kill her eventually. She loved bright colours.

There was a window on the wall Lillian was facing, with the red curtains pulled back to expose trees, and lots of them. To the right of the window was a dresser, again, wooden Lillian noted with dismay, and a large circular mirror hanging on the wall above it. Lillian walked up to it hesitantly, running her fingers along the smooth wood and looked at her reflection for the first time in Goddess knows how long, surprised to see how much she had matured over the past season. She barely recognized the girl in the mirror, she looked so sickly and pale compared to how Lillian usually saw herself. Feeling sick, she turned away after making a face at her reflection, realizing why Ayame had refused to let her look in a mirror, she could only imagine how much worse she had looked before. And she had wondered why people thought she wouldn't make it. Well, she'd just have to show them just what a healthy Lillian looked like.

Trying to get her mind onto something happier, Lillian continued her exploration, quickly poking her head through the door on the right side of the room to confirm that it was a bathroom, deciding to explore that later, Lillian turned around and almost ran into the near empty bookshelf she hadn't noticed before, quickly flipping through one of the few books to see it was on crop growing, figures. Nothing interesting to read here, she'd have to go bug Ina to see what she had. A book that looked different from the other caught Lillian's attention, it was a spiral bound notebook, she flipped it open eagerly, hoping to see juicy gossip or something, but was disappointed to see blank pages, though it did look like something had been torn out from it.

She continued turning, surprised to see the door, along with a desk she hadn't seen in the corner a few feet away from her bed. Shrugging, she went through the door, she could go through it more in depth later, and Hiro was probably boring himself to death right now. Or amusing himself, which was a more terrifying thought.

"What's the verdict?" Hiro asked as soon as Lillian had stepped through the door to enter the main room, sitting up from where he had been slumped on the couch.

Lillian made a face, plopping down next to him, careful of where her arm was. "Too much wood, not enough colours. I don't look pretty." The last part slipped out, but Lillian didn't regret it. She had long since learned that regretting things you couldn't take back wasn't worth the trouble.

Hiro deadpanned, before chuckling at her. "Figures, I can see why Ayame wanted you out of the clinic- she likes her neutral colours. And you look fine… for someone that's been unconscious for the better part of a season recently. "

Lillian rolled her eyes at him and hit him with her good hand, laughing when he feigned injury. "Well, she's just lucky I didn't find the paint before she got there, or there'd be a lot more than one red line on the wall. And you're lucky I can't hit you very hard right now, that's not how you comfort a _lady _with confidence issues."

Hiro grinned. "Not anymore, she made me repaint it today when you were packing, it's like you were never there. And I'm perfectly capable of comforting a _lady, _but, alas, you are not one."

Lillian ignored that comment, "Hey, speaking of paint, can I borrow?"

Hiro shrugged, before smirking, "You'll have to take it up with Ayame, I'm not permitted to answer that."

"You're useless," Lillian moaned, faking exasperation, the doctor in training not falling for her petty act.

"Well," Hiro said suddenly as the two relaxed, "I should probably get going- you know Ayame…"

Lillian smiled sadly, meeting Hiro's eyes, she hadn't been alone in a long time. "Yeah, you should. She'll murder you face off." She said mercilessly.

Hiro got up to leave with a small chuckle, and Lillian followed him to the door.

"Oh, there's some food in the cupboard for cooking, and there's a recipe book in your room somewhere, or at least Ayame said, but you can always come over, if you want to," Hiro added, scratching the back of his neck. "Ayame won't mind." He smiled sadly. "It's gonna be weird without out our little mooch there…" He trailed off, smiling when he saw Lillian's face.

"I'm a big girl, Hiro, but I'll be sure to visit you tomorrow?" Lillian said over the frog in her throat, she hated goodbyes, even if the person was just going down the road, literally. Well, of course, only when she liked the person in question, hence why leaving the city for good hadn't been a problem for her.

"Okay!" Hiro said happily, opening the door and heading out with a quick goodbye, Lillian standing awkwardly in her living room for half a minute before realizing she should probably unpack.

Sighing, Lillian cast a hopeless glance towards her enormous pile of luggage, she had literally packed up her life and left, which resulted in a lot of crap along with the stuff she actually needed and liked.

Lillian set off, grabbing the bag off the top of the pile and towing it to her room, ready to open the next chapter of her life. It was finally time.

* * *

Lillian froze, her breath catching in her throat as the large white pony ambled towards her, its dark eyes watching her closely, or horse as Kana had told her, apparently it was just the right height to be a horse, whatever that meant. Lillian didn't understand half of what Kana had been saying; she'd been too distracted and just agreed to whatever he said. Probably shouldn't have done that, Lillian thought.

Trying to calm herself, using a technique Kana had shown her earlier, closing her eyes for a moment and taking a few deep breaths to try and calm herself. Honestly, she really hated Kana and Hiro right about now- they, mostly Kana, had decided it would therapeutic for Lillian to 'get back in the saddle,' of course figuratively thanks to Lillian's fragile arm, and all three had been shocked to find Lillian's newfound fear of horses- or more specifically, hers. When she had first entered the field with the horse about a week ago, she had ended up getting startled, not to mention terrified, and Hiro had had to escort her back to her farm that night. Kana, the persistent bugger, had promptly researched how to bond with a horse when you were scared, and now here Lillian was; trying to not drop dead in the middle of the field, Kana and Hiro too far away to help if the stupid horse decided to go berserk and kill her in cold blood.

Of course, Kana denied any possibility of that happening, but Lillian, having been watching as the horse skittered around her for the better part of an hour, had other ideas. Lillian would have been glad to sell the stupid thing to Kana and move on with her life, she didn't need a horse. Lillian chided herself, it probably wasn't helping her that she kept mentally insulting the horse- who still didn't have a name, despite that Kana kept asking her, and she would always reply that he could name it if he really wanted to. He shut up after that.

A light fluttering on her arm awoke Lillian from her thoughts, the girl's eyes snapping open to see the horse in question standing next to her- poised to run and sniffing her arm, lifting its head to meet Lillian's gaze as the girl tensed up. Lillian breathed out slowly, forcing herself to relax and allowing herself a small, wavering smile when the horse went back to sniffing her, butting her torso with its speckled black nose.

Despite herself, and ignoring her racing heart, Lillian lifted her hand cautiously, watching the horse's reaction carefully, before running it along the horse's nose, trying to ignore the way her fingers shook as she did this. Thankfully, the horse didn't react much, only sighing and lowering its head. Cautiously, Lillian continued petting the huge animal running her fingers through its snowy white mane.

"Keep going, Lil." Kana whispered encouragingly, although the girl didn't hear his words, watching the scene with a wide grin as Lillian petted the horse, the closest she had been to the animal in weeks. This was exactly what Kana had been waiting for, maybe after this Lillian wouldn't be so rash with her decision to get rid of the horse, not that Kana didn't want it, but he knew Lillian would be better off with the horse. And if that meant he lost a good deal, then it was worth it to the salesman. He was Lillian's friend first, his job came second to his friendships.

Beside him, Hiro sighed as he watched the scene unfold, curtained in the golden glow of twilight- it really was beautiful. It was times like this Hiro wished he had artistic talent, the way Lillian and the horse were silhouettes against the falling sun… it was truly breathtaking, he thought as he leaned against the wooden fence he and Kana had but up so long ago after the old one collapsed due to disrepair; granted, Kana had done most of the work, but Hiro had been there to remove the many slivers Kana received that day, along with emotional support for the horseman in training.

Lillian looked at the horse carefully, finally seeing that it wasn't just pure white like she had initially thought- it actually had a small light brown spot around its eye, and black spotted all over its coat. Its mane cascaded down with slight curls to the ends, obviously having been carefully attended to by Kana over the past few days, something that would probably fall to Lillian to do eventually. Lillian fell back when the horse hit her with its nose again, staring in shock before realizing she had stopped petting it.

"Alright, bring it in Lillian, that's enough for today." Kana called out, opening the gate to the field and slipping in, leaving Hiro on the other side.

Lillian jumped when Kana called out to her, having become focused on the horse as time passed, she looked around and was shocked to see the world around her encased in a golden light, she hadn't realized it was so late.

Kana pushed past Lillian, getting between her and the horse and clipping a lead on the horse's halter, Lillian watching dumbfounded as he led the horse away, still trying to catch up to the present. What had she just been feeling, everything else around her had just disappeared, until it was just her and her horse. To be honest, Lillian kind of missed the feeling as she was thrust into reality once more. But that didn't change the fact that it had been weird.

"Coming, Lillian?" Hiro called, gesturing towards her from where he stood on the other side of the fence.

Lillian nodded, quickly jogging out of the pen after shaking her head, trying to get rid of the attention consuming thoughts she was having and pushing them away for later. "Yeah, I'm coming."

Hiro and Lillian set off for the main part of town, after Hiro closed the gate behind Lillian, the girl too deep in thought to realize what was happening at the moment.

"Hey! Wait up," Kana called, returning from dropping the horse back off in the stable at Lillian's new farm house and hurrying to catch up with Lillian and Hiro, walking between the two and wrapping his arms around both of them, pulling them closer. "How's that for evil?" Kana asked, nudging Lillian with a smirk.

Lillian rolled her eyes, slipping out from underneath Kana's arm, Hiro taking the time to do the same thing.

"You guys are no fun," Kana pouted, shoving his hands into his pockets. "You still haven't answered my question, not-farm girl."

Lillian's cheeks turned a slight shade of pink, and the girl looked straight ahead, refusing to meet Kana's knowing gaze. "Shut up."

Hiro elbowed Kana, effectively telling him to shut up about the issue.

Kana just grinned at him, but the big brute complied anyway, knowing there would be _many_ more opportunities to tease Lillian about him being right.

Soon enough, the trio arrived at Yun's teahouse.

"Ladies first," Kana said, mockingly bowing in front of Lillian, who pushed him as she went by. Which, of course, didn't even budge him.

Hiro stood with crossed arms, staring at Kana as he tapped his foot as he waited for Kana to move out of the way.

Kana smirked, bowing again, "Ladies first."

Hiro rolled his eyes as he made his way in, soon locating Lillian at a table in the corner and sitting next to her on the floor, leaving Kana to sit on his own on the other side of the table. Kana strolled in, hollering a greeting to Yun before coming and, quite literally, crashing down across from Hiro and Lillian, his manners at their finest.

"Not nice, guys, don't play favourites." Kana said, crossing his arms and attempting to glare at the two, cracking a smile in less than a minute due to the fact that both Lillian and Hiro had raised their brows at him. Lillian even managed a giggle, falling out of the funk she had somehow gotten herself in that afternoon.

"You're not very menacing, y'know." Lillian said, propping her elbows on the table and resting her chin on her hands.

Kana shrugged. "I get that all the time, but you know what I give to others?"

Lillian humored him, asking him what he got.

Kana made an exaggerated gesture of strength, flexing his muscles for Lillian. "Pow, and pow."

Lillian just rolled her eyes at him, plucking a napkin off the table and folding it in boredom. Hiro, however, broke out in laughter at Kana.

Yun finally appeared, wielding three menus and cutlery for the group.

"How are you feeling. Lillian? Is your arm healing alright?" Yun asked, focusing on Lillian as she handed out the menus.

Lillian smiled at the elderly woman, "It's coming along well, it'll be good as new in no time."

"That's wonderful news! Will you be able to head up to the cooking festival tomorrow? It's the first one in a while, they've been cancelled because the gourmet fellow's wife had a baby, a girl I believe." Yun said, chatting with Lillian as the girl browsed through the small menu.

Lillian looked up from the menu, thoughts of what to order falling from her mind. "Cooking festival?"

Yun's eyes widened as Kana simultaneously face-palmed and Hiro gasped- realizing they hadn't told the girl, "Hasn't anyone told you of it?" Lillian shook her head. "Oh my, I never would have thought that would happen, well, it's a festival in which both towns, Konaha and Bluebell, meet on the mountain top to compete in a themed competition, to see which town can make the better dish. There are about four different festival days a season, the past two being the only exceptions."

Lillian frowned, not really understanding the point of the whole thing. "Why?"

Yun stammered, not sure exactly how to answer that question. "Well, hmm, it's more of a tradition thing than anything else, but I'm sure Ina would be able to give you a more in depth description of the events that started it and such. Now, what can I help you three with?"

Lillian nodded, filing that away for things to do later, adding that to her list, that seemed to be getting lengthier and lengthier, she still hadn't even visited Bluebell, something she had wanted to do since she had found out about the other towns existence. The problem was, nobody would go with her for some reason and she wasn't exactly enthusiastic about going across the mountain alone again.

"Well, _I'll_ be having the spicy curry, I don't know about those losers, though." Kana said, folding the menu he had been pretending to look at it and putting it in front of Yun, who took it with a glare, not appreciating name calling in her restaurant. Not that she expected anything less though.

Lillian was just dismayed that he was too far away for her to hit, instead settling with an icy glare, one which Kana returned.

"I'll have the gratin." Hiro said as he handed the menu back to Yun, the woman turning to see Lillian focused on Kana.

"Oh, I'll have the… uh," Lillian stammered, glancing through the list on the menu before saying the one that sounded most appetizing, "Gratin, I guess?"

"Okay," Yun smiled as she collected the menus, "I'll be right back with your orders." With that, Yun returned to her kitchen, leaving the trio to amuse themselves, a very bad idea indeed, especially because Kana was a member of the trio.

The instant Yun left, Kana focused on Lillian. "_How_ did you not know anything about the cooking festival?" He asked incredulously, throwing his hands in the air. "It's like, the biggest thing around here besides, you know, me."

Lillian rolled her eyes, her cheeks tinted pink. "It's not my fault nobody told me," she said defensively, "Besides, that gourmet dude hasn't even been here in how long; it's not like anyone's participated in a cooking festival or whatever they're called, or talked about it. So don't be rude about it."

Kana sighed, not really knowing how to respond to that, still shocked at learning that Lillian didn't know about the cooking festival; the festivals were such a big part of their town and heritage. The tradition of the festivals was almost as important as… Well, the cooking festivals _were_ the most important thing in their village, and Kana had a feeling it was probably the same over in Bluebell.

Suddenly, something dawned on Lillian, and she cut Hiro off before he even began to speak. "Hey, is that why nobody ever goes to Bluebell? And why Ayame didn't want to tell me about moving to Bluebell as an option? I thought it was because she didn't want me walking over the mountain or something."

Hiro nodded. "She had been talking to me before, but it was more that you'd be more suited to Konaha due to your injury, you'd have a hard time dealing with animals like cattle and sheep with your arm, whereas crops are easier on you. But I'm sure all of the villagers preferred you to stay in Konaha, we've all grown accustomed to your presence."

Kana rolled his eyes at Hiro's in depth explanation, before meeting Lillian's gaze. "What he means is Bluebell sucks, end of story. Most of our village agrees, and if you go against our opinions, we'll break out our pitchforks and torches and chase you up the mountain."

Lillian giggled at Kana, trying to imaging him as part of an angry mob; the only pictures forming in her mind were ones of _him_ being the one chased by the mob. "Why do you guys hate Bluebell so much?" Lillian asked, trying to figure it out. "Not saying you're wrong or anything, but what did they ever do to you."

The silence that followed her question only proved Lillian's point, which she had been making as soon as she heard Yun mention 'tradition,' the girl thinking that none of the Konaha villagers, except maybe Ayame, had ever personally been to Bluebell and vice versa.

"Well," Kana said, stroking an invisible beard as he thought, "I uhm… ask Ina. There's your answer. I'm pretty sure you were already told to do that though…"

Hiro shrugged, "I don't really know either, I never really got that. I'm not really from around here, I just never asked because that's the way it was told. I assumed nobody wanted to remember or know exactly what went down."

Lillian frowned, determination in her eyes. "Well, I do. And I will find out, even if I have to visit Bluebell to get some answers, it can't be that bad."

Before Kana could fill her head with thoughts of monstrosities residing in the town over the hill, Yun showed up with their food- setting three, deliciously smelling, plates onto the table along with three glasses of water, before taking her leave with a smile.

The trio unanimously decided to start eating, after seeing the appetizing food set in front of the, and fell silent, the only noise the scrapping of forks on plates, and their chewing.

Lillian was in heaven as she ate, having never eaten food cooked so perfectly, they _really_ took their cooking serious, not that she minded if this type of cooking was a by-product. As she ate, marvelling how everything was measured out perfectly and the flavours combined to create the perfect taste, she decided that she would be trying everything on Yun`s menu, if not just because she couldn`t cook nearly half as well as Yun. But with food having as good as quality as this, she doubted anyone did.

* * *

"Thanks for coming!" Yun said happily, taking the money from Kana's outstretched hand, while Lillian watched with a smirk, feeling triumphant due to the fact that she had been able to con Kana into buying her food.

Kana smiled at Yun, waving goodbye and grabbing Lillian by the elbow, leading her out of the tea house. Hiro had left a bit earlier, with some food for Ayame.

Lillian smiled sweetly at Kana. "Thank you Kana! You're the best…Kana I know."

Kana rolled his eyes, brushing a strand of dark brown hair behind his ear that had fallen out of his ponytail. "Yeah, yeah, yeah- I know. I get it all the time."

"I doubt that." Lillian said as the two strolled down the dirt road that lead out of town, the sun long gone as they walked in the darkness.

The two walked in a comfortable silence, stopping just outside Kana's house to say their goodbyes.

"So, I'll swing by around ten to escort you across the scary mountain top, so you can see what the cooking festival is all about." Kana said as he unlocked his door, leaning against the frame to watch Lillian reply. "Make sure you feed your horse, she's in the barn and I took the liberty of putting hay in the feed dispenser, you just have to put it into the bin."

Lillian nodded, before waving as she started walking towards her house. "Sounds good, I'll be ready to watch your strange customs firsthand."

Kana laughed at her, before entering his house, leaving Lillian to her thoughts as she walked home. Tomorrow would be quite the eventful day, she would see her first cooking festival, which was apparently a big deal, according to Kana and Hiro, and catch a glimpse of the Bluebell villagers.

As she entered her property, fishing her key out of her pocket, she wondered what they would be like, from what she had heard; Bluebell had a completely different theme from Konaha, which most likely meant they'd be wearing differently styled clothing from the type people in Konaha wore. Including Lillian, the girl thought with excitement, when she had moved into the house she'd been pleasantly surprised to find an outfit similar to the ones the villagers wore in the closet for her, and had been even happier to note that it mixed and matched with some of the clothing she'd brought from her old home in the city.

Briefly, her mind wondered how her old 'family' was doing in the city, if she could even call them that. Sure, they'd been nice to her, but they were never overly nice, like some of Lillian's old friend's parents were, they just treated her like another job, another person who lived in their house. It had always been like that though, even when she was young, Lillian realized as the lock on her door clicked open, they'd never babied her, and they'd always treated her like an adult. She didn't even know what happened to her birth family, and nobody had bothered to tell her. She'd been too afraid to ask. She couldn't even remember what her mom sounded like, although her mother raised her until she was five and suddenly decided she didn't want to anymore. Lillian sighed, stepping into her house and trying to push those thoughts away, that part of her life was over and done with, it was long gone. And it was time to stop focusing on the part, the brunette though sadly, she would never get to know her real birth family, and it was about time she realized that. Goddess, Lillian thought, she was a grown woman, still missing her Mommy.

Lillian brushed away a tear she hadn't seen coming, heading for her bedroom after locking the door behind her, she was so ridiculous. She couldn't get hung up over things from the past, she had to move on to the present, and focus on her future. Of building her own family in Konaha. But still, some distant part of Lillian's mind wondered if maybe, just maybe, she would be able to find out somehow- to finally know just what happened to land her in her foster home, and what had happened to her real family. But, just as soon as the brunette thought it, her hopes were dashed as she realized how likely that was.

But still, a girl could hope.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry if this is crap, and because its like a month late. Oops. I'm so freaking unmotivated to really do anything except surf tumblr lately. This summer's just flown by. I think this story's gonna end up being updated like once every couple weeks. Editing is really boring, and if I didn't need to fix this up you would've gotten it like a month ago, aha. I'm still not sure on the plot for this one, but I'm going to push forward and actually finish something. I promise. **

**Drop a review and I'll love you forever, even if you do flame me and my crappy writing...**


End file.
